I try to be wherever I am. Sounds
simple but sometimes it isn't. The past year has
seen the kind of radical shift that used to be
common for me. From 1994-1998 I lived in five
places in five years--Prague, Brooklyn, Baltimore,
Manhattan, Seattle. Then after 15 comfortable
years at Fremont &
39th we suddenly uprooted
to Maui in a hurry to flee a 21% rent
increase and take a job as caretakers on an
isolated farm property. But in April we reaffirmed
our commitment to the Northwest and joined a
co-op on Capitol Hill, a place to call home
at last. Sarah's been bouncing back and forth to
work on Duwamish
Revealed but this was my first return since
last Thanksgiving. Despite the drawbacks of city
life it feels great to reconnect with the
community that makes Seattle
home. There's no substitute for old friends.
It was nice to get on a bike for the first time
since I left and coast downhill through our new
neighborhood, all the way down to the secret
practice space on Westlake Ave where 4Shadows
have met to jam once a week
since 2008. I like this view from the Melrose
Connector even though it's full of
badness--the interstate that destroyed
neighborhoods and split the city is shameful and
today's construction crane ballet is a sign of
further rampant insensitive development. But
though life
isn't perfect it's good to be a part of it.